Primer: UFC 109

Like health care reform, most of the coverage surrounding UFC 109
is fixated on the plight of the senior citizen: Randy
Couture is 46, Mark Coleman
is 45, and the two combined have roughly 27 years of prizefighting
experience accrued. That kind of time punched in tends to stir a
lot of emotion in audiences -- and not all of it positive.

In having occupied MMA for over a decade, both Couture and Coleman
have far exceeded the typical life expectancy for a combat sports
athlete, a job that frequently turns young men old and old men into
dust. Couture put on a brave front against the monstrous Brock
Lesnar as late as 2008; Coleman defied expectations to decision
Stephan
Bonnar last summer. Fans seem to delight in that perseverance
while simultaneously resenting their prolonged status as leading
attractions. (Couture in particular lost some steam in a bout with
Brandon
Vera, which was more self-defense demonstration than
fight.)

If fan enthusiasm is dull for Saturday’s card, it might be blamed
on mis-measured expectations: standards that apply to 25-year-olds
should not be heaped on men nearing 50 who have fought as
frequently as some athletes have sparred. If you expect to watch
Couture/Coleman and be dazzled by radical, hyper attacks, you will
quickly grow disappointed; if you accept that two veterans will
engage in a game where nasty tricks and a takedown or two can alter
the outcome, then you’ll probably walk away satisfied.

When: Saturday, Feb. 6 at 10 p.m. ET,
with a live undercard broadcast on Spike at 9 p.m. ET.

Why You Should Care: Because this is
likely the last time the winner of Couture/Coleman will sniff a
title shot, putting an effective end to an era; because Nate
Marquardt is looking more and more like a problem for Anderson
Silva in a rematch, and he needs a violent win over Chael Sonnen
to seal it; because Frank Trigg,
for all his deflated bravado, can’t put on a boring fight; and
because Rolles
Gracie will be looking for his family’s first win the UFC in
nearly fifteen years.

Hype Quote of the Show: “It’s quite
ironic that all the media comes on and talks about how great
[Anderson Silva] is for reasons that are completely
un-understandable to me…all of us fighters are in the back going,
‘jeez, they’re out there massaging his ego.’ Anderson hates them so
much, he pretends he can’t understand them." -- Chael Sonnen,
getting title fight hype started prematurely, to MMAWeekly.com.